specializing in working border collie publications

Our Reviews

insight into the Border Collie's urge to work as well as a very personal look at two specific Border Collies. Can you tell I loved this book? Go buy it. (Susan Ewing, the Jamestown Post Journal)

Two littermates, two contrasting jobs in two starkly different environments make for a spirited and educational read accented with razor-sharp analysis and colorful anecdotes. . . . The authors establish a comfort zone for the reader, smoothly segueing from a trip to a city gym to a sheep-herding trek in the field in their alternating chronological chapters featuring Benjamin’s illustrations and Wall’s photos. . . . Their insight and expertise on the border collies’ psychological growth provides the reader a solid grasp for understanding its incredible versatility and strong work ethic. . . . The authors’ sharply-focused portrait of the border collies’ diverse role in their lives blends a breezy, unassuming charm with compassionate realism into an upbeat read of doggy dynamics. (Ranny Green, Seattle Times pet columnist)

Great interview of Carol and Denise by Christie Keith of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Carol and Denise have spent their lives training dogs, and Sky and May's stories are lucid, insightful, and sometimes surprising. The reader will discover two wonderful dogs. As a child, I was enthralled by Jack London, Eric Knight, and Albert Payson Terhune. Somehow, magically, the stray mutts my family took in became like White Fang, Lassie, and Lad of Sunnybank Farm. Do Border Collies Dream of Sheep? stands comparison with those classics. (Donald McCaig, author of Nop's Trials, Nop's Hope, Eminent Dogs, Dangerous Men, and The Dog Wars, The Bark Magazine, April/May 2011)

Carol is interviewed on Steve Dale's Pet World podcast. Steve also wrote a review of Do Border Collies Dream of Sheep? here.

American Lambs is a polished, beautifully written and quite diverse collection of pieces that evoke a fading culture of farming, individuality, connection with nature, family and of course, the fabled qualities of the border collie, one of the great working dogs of all time. The book is quiet, the stories touching and understated. There is a mythical quality to the collection.(Read more from John Katz's Bedlam Farm blog)

Bottom Line: Buy and read Don McCaig's new book about the battle for the Border Collie. It's a good book, and an important book. And, truth be told, there are damn few of those. (Read more from Terrierman's Daily Dose)

A great writer writing about his great passion is not something to be missed. (Read more from Gina Spadafori's Pet Connection)

McCaig's essential history of the border collie versus the AKC belongs in everyone's library. It's about good dogs, about bad things that happen to good dogs when the American Kennel Club gets control of them, and about the major public-relations nightmare the AKC brought upon itself by "recognizing" the border collie against the wishes of virtually everyone who cared about the breed. (Read more from Lassie, Get Help!)